As a civil engineer in today’s highly-competitive world, you need to have the right education, training, and experience if you are to get multiple options and career opportunities present themselves to you. Civil engineers are highly-skilled professionals who use their extensive knowledge to foster and grow successful careers in the private and public sectors. Pedram Zohrevand has gained the relevant skills throughout his 10-year-long career. It is essential for civil engineers that are looking to increase their chances of success in the profession, (or that are relatively new to this line of work,) to have a good understanding of essential skills modern civil engineers should possess.
Technical Training
A working knowledge, and an understanding of science, are essential and are the foundation for any career in engineering, and more so, civil engineering. To become an engineer, you need to be good at biology, computer science, chemistry, and physics. Scholars looking to pursue a career in civil engineering today typically have the upper hand since the formal training most of them receive during their undergraduate, and graduate education lays a solid foundation for the technical training they need. In some states, civil engineers are required to obtain a PE or Professional Engineer’s License, especially if they plan on working with the public.
Mathematical Skills
Mathematical principles are applicable to the daily routines and duties of a civil engineer. To succeed in the world of civil engineering, you need to have a very good understanding of trigonometry, geometry, calculus, and algebra. If you plan on pursuing a more specialized line of engineering such as water resources engineering or transportation engineering, a good understanding of statistics can be a plus.
Oral Communication Skills
If you plan on pursuing a career in civil engineering, you must possess good oral communication skills. This involves intently listening to team members, other skilled workers, officials, and clients to understand their concerns and needs. Strong oral skills are essential for civil engineers, especially when it comes to explaining hard technical terms and information to the people they interact and work with. Concisely explaining things makes it easier for everyone to grasp the information that’s being shared.
Written Communication Skills
From project managers to technicians, civil engineers at all levels need to have good written communication skills. They have to be able to communicate via correspondence and written reports concisely and clearly. Civil engineers, often, deal with professionals from different backgrounds such as regional planners, urban planners, architects, and other tradespeople and technicians. A civil engineer’s line of work may also require him or her to communicate with people who don’t possess a technical background in science or engineering. Considering that they have to communicate with people of all calibers, they must have the ability to write in a straightforward
Leadership Skills
The outcome of any project depends on how well the responsible civil engineers manage them. As such, managers need to possess various leadership skills when overseeing technicians, planners, contractors, surveyors, and technologists. Engineers need to be able to plan and prioritize, delegate duties when needed, manage time effectively, motivate team members, and make decisions with authority and confidence.
Organizational Skills
Licensed civil engineers have lots of things to handle in the course of their work, and one of their responsibilities is to evaluate and monitor the progress of work completed at worksites. At the same time, it’s their responsibility to ensure staff follow project plans, design documents, and other regulations. In most cases, it’s their responsibility to check, approve and sign project design documents. Considering that civil engineers are responsible for handling highly sensitive matters and the fact that they often handle more than one project at a go, they must have the capacity and skills to allocate resources, organize project information, and manage team members without supervision.
Problem-Solving Skills
Anyone looking to become a civil engineer must possess good analytical skills. During different project stages like construction and planning, an engineer will encounter several types of variables that might hold up the project’s progress or influence its outcome. In such instances, engineers will need to harness their education, experience, and skills to find cost-effective and safe solutions to any problems that arise in the course of the project.
Decision-Making Skills
While working as a project manager and a leader, a civil engineer will have to consider conflicting goals from all the involved parties, the available information, financial responsibilities, safety concerns, and professional ethics when making decisions. Civil engineers need to be confident in themselves and have confidence that their team will provide useful and accurate information that makes decision-making easy and effective. Also, when errors are made, and they will, they should be ready to take up responsibility, find out what went wrong, and come up with ways to get the project back on track.
As technology continues to evolve and population needs change, civil engineers should also make sure they continually improve their skill sets and spend more time developing and honing new skills. Each skill you master as a civil engineer can go a long way to helping you land your dream job or rise through the ranks at your place of work.
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